Decisions of the "00s": Will the Past Define the Future?. Page 9

There are revolutionary products that reshape the information technology industry and the lives. But before ground-breaking products emerge, world-shattering decisions are made, or maybe certain decisions themselves change the market so drastically that they become revolutions themselves. In this article we are taking a look on decisions of the recent decade that changed personal computing industry almost completely.

2007: Google Founds Open Handset Alliance: The "Next Windows" Is Born

Microsoft Corp. cannot be challenged on its home turf since Windows operating system is a de facto industrial standard for personal computers. But Google decided to challenge Microsoft on a completely new ground: smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences. But Google decided not to go at war alone. It formed Open Handset Alliance with both cellphone manufacturers, network carriers and others in 2007 to develop Android operating system.

The OHA made the launch of Android operating system possible and the operating system was actually released commercially in 2008. But the history of Android started a lot earlier, sometimes in 2003, when Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Nick Sears (a VP at T-Mobile) and Chris White founded Android, a company set to develop operating system for smart ultra-portable devices with rich multimedia capabilities and always connected to the Internet. After a series of financial struggles, Android was acquired by Google.

But while Google was already a strong player on the market, it clearly understood that without backing from smartphone manufacturers, operators, semiconductor companies and software developers the Android will never become really popular. The Open Handset Alliance united all of those parties and let everyone have influence onto the operating system while not dictating anyone what exactly to do.

As a result, there are hundreds of different Android-based smartphones and tablets from tens of manufacturers across the world. While it is true that there is a great segmentation on the Android market, while Apple iOS and Microsoft Windows Phone everything is stable, there is also something for everyone. Not surprising that Android is now the most popular operating system for smartphones and second most popular operating system for media tablets.

Today, over 700 thousand of Google Android-based devices are activated daily. For comparison, about a million of Microsoft Windows-powered PCs are purchased every day across the world. Therefore, Google has every right to call Android the next Windows, which it actually is.